Irish PM's party falls further in pre-election poll | Reuters

DUBLIN Support for the party of Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny continued to slip days ahead of a national election according to a poll released on Tuesday, dropping to 26 percent from a peak of 31 percent earlier this month.

The fall in support for the country's most popular party increases the likelihood that the Feb. 26 election will produce an inconclusive outcome and possibly lead to another ballot.

The Red C poll for the Irish Sun showed that Kenny's centre-right Fine Gael party fell 2 percentage points from 28 percent in a survey by the same organisation for the Sunday Business Post at the weekend.

Junior coalition partner Labour was up 1 point to 9 percent, giving the two parties a combined 35 percent. Analysts say they would need well above 40 percent to have a chance of securing a majority.

Left-wing nationalist Sinn Fein were down 3 points to 17 percent from the weekend poll, while centre-right Fianna Fail was up 1 point to 19 percent. Kenny's Fine Gael has ruled out a coalition with either party.

The poll of 1,006 voters was taken between Thursday and Monday and has a margin of error of 3 percent.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by John Stonestreet)

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